Garden firm rakes in £2 million to create jobs

A thriving garden company in Worksop has created 40 jobs after generating an investment windfall of almost £2 million to support its growth.

The BillyOh brand, created in 2005, is one of the market leaders in the manufacturing of wooden buildings for the garden, such as sheds, log cabins and summer houses.

Now it is poised to take its next step forward after raising £400,000 from EU grant funding and £1.5 million in asset finance provided by Lloyds Bank.

The money will enable the company to buy several pieces of machinery, costing up to £500,000 each, and take on more staff. It also expects to quadruple its output of log cabins.

BillyOh boss Christopher Palmer-Smith said: “The challenge for us is ensuring that we capitalise on the window of opportunity presented by seasonal demand. We do this by having the assets available to increase production.

“This funding, alongside our own investment, will see us through a five-year plan we’ve set out to help boost long-term growth of the business.”

The EU grant was the largest of a funding round issued with the aim of supporting the regeneration of Worksop.

Lloyds Bank says it was delighted to support the expansion of BillyOh. Its commercial arm provides comprehensive, expert financial services to businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to multi-national corporations, with the help of a UK-wide network of relationship teams.

Lloyds’ relationship manager in Worksop, Phil Simpson, said: “BillyOh has a strong vision of its direction for growth and has established itself firmly in the market. Supporting BillyOh’s growth ambitions, and the opportunities they create for the Worksop community, is part of our commitment to helping Britain prosper.”